Embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a depth sensor and a method of operating the same, and more particularly, to a depth sensor for acquiring image data with noise minimized and a method of operating the same.
With the rapid increase of demand for smart phones, there has been a lot of development of image sensors. Image sensors include a plurality of pixels converting photons in a predetermined spectrum band into electrons.
Information about the depth between an object and an image sensor as well as information about color may be necessary to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) image. Methods of obtaining the information about the depth between the object and the image sensor may be divided into two types: active methods and passive methods.
A time-of-flight (TOF) method and a triangulation method are representative active methods. In the TOF method, modulated light is emitted to an object, light reflected from the object is sensed, and the depth is calculated from a phase change. In the triangulation method, the position of light emitted by a laser or the like in a certain distance from a sensor and the position of reflected light are sensed and the depth is calculated using triangulation. In the passive methods, the depth is calculated using only image information without emitting light. A stereo camera may be representative of the passive methods.